I Can't Be Perfect
by Kretari - daughter of Hermes
Summary: Merlin's new to town, and being the new kid in a big school like Camelot High? It's nerve wrecking for the best of people. When the group of 'knights' at school takes an interest in him his first day, he's definitely wary of them. Will he ever open up to them completely? Or will he remain hidden for the most part? Endgame - Merthur or Merdred.


**AN: Hey guys. I know I don't need to do this right now, but...eh. I have a story idea and nothing to do but write, so...well for now, anyways. We're doing cosplay here soon. So, I should actually be working on stuff for that, but...this is easier with the time limits I have right now. **

**Anyways, here's this. Maybe it won't suck too badly.**

**Enjoy.**

It was extremely hard to adjust to a new area, a new school with new people. Merlin had never really had an easy time fitting in as it was, but now? Now he was coming into a new high school full of people who were much better off than he was, and was just coming from Ealdor. He wasn't sure how well it would go on his first day as he approached the large school. He blinked in surprise. _Oh, I am definitely going to get lost.._

As he found his way through to the front office to gather his schedule and ask a basic question of where his first class was, he got a good look at the students milling about instead of heading to class. He could see who was the popular kids, who to avoid on his first day if at all possible. Beyond that, his main focus was not getting lost getting to his first hour class.

As he entered, he found he was only five minutes late from getting a bit lost in the crowd of strangers that filled the hall.

The teacher, Mr. Rynalds, blinked at him before giving a faint smile. "And you must be Mr. Emrys..?"he said, a faint question overcoming the statement.

Merlin nodded, keeping his head down. "Sorry for being late, sir.."he started, trying to stay polite. He wasn't good at being this polite when in a room of strangers who were all staring at him as if he were an interesting science experiment.

"It's perfectly fine. Please have a seat,"

Merlin nodded, finding his way to the only empty desk in the back of the room, managing to trip over someone's bag. He fought back embarrassment as laughter echoed. He kept his head down as he sat down. As such, he wasn't aware of the sympathetic look he got from one of the popular boys in front of him.

He was aware, however, of the teacher getting onto said boy. "Mr. Camlann, please put your phone away."

Merlin watched the boy in front of him put a phone in his pocket after pressing send on a message. It struck him as odd, him running the risk of getting in trouble for a simple text message.

Mr. Rynalds shook his head, getting everyone started before heading back to speak with the boy just in front of Merlin, who worked silently as he listened. "May I ask who you were messaging during instruction?"

The boy smiled up at the teacher. "Lance."he answered.

"About?"Mr. Rynalds questioned, curious as to what exactly was going through his student's mind.

This got a look thrown back to Merlin, and an amused smile from the teacher.

"Now, why would you be texting someone about Mr. Emrys if you don't know him?"

Merlin looked up at his name, catching the boy's light blue eyes.

The response given was a shrug.

When class was over, Merlin was content to gather his things and leave to find his next class. But that isn't what happened. The boy who'd been sitting in front of him stood with his own bag over his shoulder and waited for Merlin to look up.

When he did, it was greeted with a soft voice. "Hello. I'm Mordred,"he said, offering a hand.

Merlin gave him a wary look. "Merlin,"he responded, shaking his hand. He wasn't used to people being so willing to be nice to him. There had to be some sort of trick to this.

The next few classes, he had people coming up, introducing themselves to him. He wasn't sure how to handle the attention, as most people had never been this kind at his last school in Ealdor.

When lunch came, he thought for sure he'd have some time to sort everything out, but Mordred caught him before he could go have a seat on his own and drug him over to sit with him and his friends.

It was then that all the other introductions were done. The main one that caught him was the fact that they were all kind to him, accepting of him without hesitation.

Gwaine kept teasing him for being so closed off, uncertain.

He gave weak smiles at some of the jokes he had thrown at him.

Then someone else showed up. "I got a text from Lancelot during gym. What happened in English, Mordred?"

"Arthur!"Mordred said in surprise. "I was wondering if you'd show up."

This got an amused look. "What happened?"

Mordred nodded to Merlin. "New student. Same as what happened with Lancelot."

Arthur gave Merlin a quick, searching look. "Where are you from?"he asked.

Merlin seemed a bit surprised to be addressed, but he answered quickly. "Ealdor."he said softly.

"You're the boy who moved in with Gaius?"Arthur asked.

Merlin nodded, giving a wary look.

Arthur gave a smile, though. "Nice to meet you,"

This let Merlin relax a bit.

Through lunch, things got progressively worse for him, though. He could hear the joking tones they took when teasing him, sure, but after just leaving a place where nearly everyone hated him, it still stung. When he got up and left early, they exchanged looks of surprise.

Soon enough, Morgana entered the room and moved to stand in front of them, arms crossed. "What did you do to the new kid?"

"We were just joking with him."Gwaine offered.

Morgana gave him a cold glare. "For a bunch of 'knights', you guys aren't good at noticing if you're making someone feel unsafe near you."

Mordred's eyes shown in concern, but he stayed silent. He was the newest of them, and he should have known not to drag Merlin in. He'd had a terrible time when he first arrived.

Morgana sighed. "Don't let this die, alright?"

Arthur nodded. "I'll catch up with him and talk with him soon,"

But he never did. Merlin left before anyone could catch him that afternoon, heading straight home.

He avoided them the next day, ignoring them if they tried speaking.

Mordred kept a worried glance on him during lunch.

Lancelot sighed. "He's much more wary of people. Does anyone know what happened to cause the move?"he asked, concern leaking into his voice. He'd always had a soft spot of the new kids, the ones who were outcasted because of something that they had no control over.

Nobody said anything, giving Lancelot his answer.

He got up and moved to go sit across from Merlin, gaining a wary look from the boy.

That evening when school ended, the others saw Lancelot and Merlin talking quietly near the benches, waiting on them. They weren't sure what Lancelot had told him, but they were glad when they got a bright smile in greeting from Merlin, who was still a bit wary but much more willing to be around the group.

_Perhaps,_ Merlin thought that night as he got everything ready for the next day, _things won't be so bad here._

**Alright. Here's the deal. I have a soft spot for Mordred. I think things could have gone a lot better if he'd had some proper guidance as a child. So that's the attitude I'm giving him. The one that could have happened.**

**And this? This is going to be hard with everything else going on, but I'm going to try and keep a normal update schedule for this.**


End file.
